January 8, 2025 Morning Devotional
Morning Devotion: Read Luke - Temptation
Luke 4:1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
The devil is in the tempting business. If he could tempt Jesus, then you nor I are free from temptations. Everyone is tempted at one point or another, it is common to man.
The devil knows when and where and how to tempt you. Notice, he tempted Jesus when Jesus was hungry after a forty day fast. The devil knew Jesus was hungry, he was watching Him.
Our temptations come at all times, when we are vulnerable and when we are seemingly invulnerable we can be tempted. When one thinks they cannot be tempted is when they are tempted because they think they are invulnerable.
Temptations seem to be focused on three areas, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. All three are covered in the above text. All three are covered in I John 2
1John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
For the lost unsaved person, temptations are inescapable; for the believer, temptations are limited by God. Just as Jesus was able to conquer temptations and prove His Divine power over sin and the devil, so He helps us in when we are tempted.
1Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Christian, when you are tempted, turn to the Lord. He will not allow any temptation to be in your life without making a way for you to escape it.
The choice is still yours,
Pastor Cook
